means keeping your family protected. martha: never know what will happen here. bill: you wore green and i wore red tie because 27 days away from christmas. martha: we're getting in the christmas mode, right? "happening now" starts right now. see you tomorrow, everybody. jenna: brand new stories and breaking news. jon: there are massive protests in egypt right now against president mohammed morsi's latest power grab. as anger grows the muslim brotherhood announces plans for its own demonstration. police combing a million dollar mansion for clues after a violent home invasion. plus there is still time to try your luck as the powerball jackpot hit as record 500 million smackers. it is ail "happening now."

jon: think if that half a billion buck is not enough to touch the national debt. jenna: i like when you say smackers. that gets us into the lottery. jon: day two of crucial meetings on capitol hill. i'm jon scott. jenna: i'm jenna lee. susan rice is meeting with support bob corker of tennessee. she just wrapped up talks with susan collins of maine. that topic is benghazi. what did ambassador rice know about the terror attacks on the u.s. consulate that killed four americans on september 11? she faced a lot of criticism for comments made in the days following the attacks blaming it on a demonstration that got out of hand. by the way she wasn't the only one. that is something we heard a lot about in the days following at the attacks. today's meetings come after a first round of talks with senators john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte. and those meetings as we

first reported to you yesterday did not appear to go very well. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington with more. >> reporter: thank you, jenna. ambassador rice is meeting two more republicans senators bob corker and susan collins. you're looking at stakeout position on capitol hill. ambassador rice is expected to meet with six senators. if she is nominated as next secretary of state she will need six republicans to vote for her to region the magic number of 60 for confirmation. so far republicans are not convinced. >> yesterday in talking to some of those to whom she talked i'm absolutely convinced in my mind bill, she is part of the cover-up. she knew all the time the cia information that was given to her. >> reporter: senators graham, mccain and ayotte tellingers after yesterday's meeting that the information let them more disturbed and not reassured about rice's benghazi comments that which portrayed the a tack as a

demonstration that spun out of control. cia director mike morrell with rice for the meetings initially told her the cia references to dropped in the talking points at the request of the fbi because the bureau did not want to compromise a ongoing criminal investigation. later cia officials called back to correct the record that in fact it was the agency was responsible. there was never any intention to mislead on benghazi rice said in a written statement, the talking points provided by the intelligence community and initial assessment were incorrect in a key respect. there was no protest or demonstration in benghazi. that the white house previousing spokesman jay carney tried to put the focus on the current investigation and not ambassador rice's people are moe interested in talking points for a sunday show several months ago than they are in finding out what happened in benghazi, bringing to justice to was responsible and insuring we take action to prevent something like that from happening again. >> reporter: late yesterday

there was a statement issued by the senate majority leader harry reid who said the three republicans politicize sizing this issue and called their behavior outrage just, jenna. jenna: well have more as the story volz throughout the day. catherine, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: another story gripping washington, the size of our national debt. one lawmaker says the real problem is the fiscal avalanche that looms if the government fails to deal with our massive national debt. it is now over $16 trillion and counting. utah republican senator mike lee wrote that the in an, wrote that in a recent opinion piece. he is a member of the joint economic committee. you're from utah. a lot of mountains there. i'm sure you know what an avalanche looks like and the problem with them is as you point out you don't know when they're going to come. >> that's right, jon. unlike the give which you can see coming the avalanche is there in the sense that the conditions are present but you don't know exactly

when it is going to hit you. by the time it hits you it is too late to get out of the way. that's why we have to start moving to change the conditions so the avalanche doesn't hit. so our creditors will continue to lend to us and we can continue to find the basic operations of government. jon: what are the consequences if that doesn't happen, if we get this, if we get this fiscal avalanche that you're warning about? >> if we continue to operate without a budget, if we continue to operate in such a way we have no plans getting to a balance in our budget in the next five or six years, at some point, we don't know what that will happen, our creditors are either going to stop lending to us all together or demand a much higher interest rate, a better yield. once that happens it is very difficult to control. once that happens, our ability to borrow will be severely impaired. there will have to be massive, draconian painful cuts to everything from defense to entitlements and everything in between, cuts the likes of which we have never seen. we can avoid this. we have to start making changes now. we have to pass budgets now,

budgets that actually balance. jon: you write under the most likely policy scenario according to the congressional budget office, which is a nonpartisan organization, in 30 years we could expect to be paying $3.8 trillion in debt every year, more than federal government operations are in total this year? >> that's right, john. it is even worse than it sounds. those are 2011 inflation adjusted dollars. in other words, the entire federal expenditures, all federal outlays for last year are roughly equivalent to what we'll be spending then just in our interest. that is not sustainable. we can't run a government that way. jon: all right. so what do we do about it? >> well have to start by passing a budget. we had only three budgets introduced in the united states senate. i'm one of three senators who introduced one. my budget balances in five years. senator pat toomey from pennsylvania introduced one that balances in eight years. rand paul from kentucky that

balances in five years. we have to get one passed. as of right now we have no proposal from the democrats. at least no proposal from the democrats other than the president's budget which received zero votes this year and zero votes last year. jon: well the president wants to raise taxes on the wealthy for instance. is that going to solve the problem, get rid of the bush tax cuts? >> that is not going to solve the problem because we have to remember first of all, there is no such thing as a tax increase that affects only the wealthy. ernst & young predicted we'll lose 700,000 jobs even if we raise taxes only on top two rate brackets. 700,000 jobs. those are not ceo jobs. those are not top one percenters. those are people living paycheck to paycheck. bottom line we can't go back to the american people again and again expect to call that a fair deal when we continue to demand more money of them but we're not willing to change the way we spend money in washington. jon: senator mike lee is a republican of utah. some sobering thoughts there, senator. thanks for sharing them. >> thank you. jenna: we have some brand new developments in the

political turmoil raging in egypt today as the country's two highest appeals courts suspend work to protest president morsi's latest move. now that latest move is his decision as president to make anything that he does immune from judicial review. critics call this move a power grab. others have different thoughts on that. we'll get to that in a little bit. meantime there is word the muslim brotherhood will hold countrywide protests on saturday in support of morsi. this on the heels of what you're seeing on the screen there. these massive anti-morsi demonstrations that we've been watching in cairo. that's where we find our very own steve harrigan with more. >> reporter: jenna, the protesters are out once again in tahrir square tonight but in much smaller numbers than we saw last night. last night the hugest protests so far. as many as 200,000 people in the square. many of them calling not just for president morsi to withdraw his decree for his entire government to fall. as you mentioned, judges, in

two of the major courts in egypt have gone out on strike. going out on strike until morsi repeals his decree entirely. for the first time we're hearing about public support for president morsi from his main backers, the muslim brotherhood. up until now morsi supporters have kept away from these demonstrators. now the muslim brotherhood say they will carry outa nationwide march on saturday, a real show of the popular support for the president. it may be that the tactics of the government will simply be hands off on these demonstrators in hopes these protests now after six days will begin to fade. jenna, back to you. jenna: steve harrigan live in cairo on the developing situation. steve, thank you very much. we'll take an in-depth look at the deadlock and the protests over president morsi's latest move. critics suggest there are similarities this political crisis in egypt may have to one that gripped iran more than three decades ago. that resulted in a rise to power of the ayatollah. our panel will weigh in a little later this hour. jon: we are awaiting president obama at the

white house. the presidential campaign is over as you know but the theatrics apparently are not. the president is holding an event to put political pressure on republicans as both sides negotiate a deal to try to avoid the coming fiscal cliff. our chief white house correspondent ed henry is live at the white house. so what are we expecting from the president today, ed? >> reporter: jon he is going to meet with business leaders as you say later this hour. he will come out and talk about where he believes these fiscal cliff talks are. you remember on friday he will be in pennsylvania for essentially a campaign-style event to try and pressure republicans to move forward in these talks. the white house also has this new twitter campaign they unveiled today, the hashtag, my 2 k, as in $2000 believes middle class families will get if the president's push to extend bush-era tax cuts for the middle class to continue. republicans have been saying that is all about campaigning. jay carney, the white house spokesman says it is about

engaging the public. take a listen. >> the president spoke with speaker of the house boehner and senate majority leader reid over the weekend. our team is continuing discussions with their congressional counterparts on this matter, and it is entirely appropriate i would say both for the president and for leaders in congress to have this discussion not just among themselves but with the american people. >> reporter: now there will also be another campaign blast from the past if you will here at the white house tomorrow when republican mitt romney has been invited to have lunch with the president here at the white house. their first post-election meeting, jon. jon: wow! what is the latest from republicans on what the president has to say today? >> reporter: speaker john boehner just had a news conference on capitol hill and he expressed frustration because he is saying look, republicans put some tax revenues on the table but what they see the democratic

side trying to pull entitlement reforms like medicare off the table. john boehner basically saying he thinks the spending situation is sort of a freight train that is coming at the nation right now. republicans senator mitch mism the leader in the senate -- mitch mcconnell blasted the president of saying he is doing is too much campaigning and not governing. take a listen. >> it is over. he won. congratulations. we have a hard deadline here however. and it is still, he is still out on the campaign trail, kind of celebrating. this is the problem. if the president really wants to reach an dwreechlt he needs to be talking with members of his own party right here in washington trying to broker an agreement, not out there firing up crowds and giving speeches. >> reporter: now the bottom line when you listen to comments like that it is pretty clear both sides are digging in pretty tough. not a lot of progress in these talks. and what is interesting republican senator tom coburn said on fox earlier this morning look, either both sides will come

together and solve this or the markets will solve it for them. jon: the markets have not been happy with all the dithering in washington. ed henry. >> reporter: good to see you, jon. jenna: the man accused of leaking classified documents to wikileaks. what bradley manning is hoping to prove. a record jackpot in a super lottery. the grand prize? $500 million. would that kind of cash buy your happenness, jon? jon: i don't think so. jenna: maybe a billion? we'll ask our viewers what though think about that. go to foxnews.com during the break to vote on our online poll. rick leventhal is live in island park, amongst the powerball fever. are you feeling okay, rick? >> reporter: this is one of the communities hit really hard by hurricane sandy. we talked to people hoping to reverse their fortunes with the half billion dollar jackpot. we'll have more on the

largest powerball prize ever, coming up after the break yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today.

bp has paid overthe people of bp twenty-threeitment to the gulf. billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. d bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

jon: right now new information on some crime stories we're keeping an eye on. the army private accuse of leaking of hundreds of thousands of military documents to the website wikileaks is expected to testify in court for the first time, part of an attempt by bradley manning's attorneys to convince a judge the earlier pretrial containment was against the law. the 17-year-old accused of killing 10-year-old neighbor jessica ridgeway will be charged as an adult. police say he turned himself in an confessed to murder two weeks after the girl's remains were found in colorado. a woman accused of stalking alec baldwin rearrested. the attorney filed a question to withdraw from her case saying she wouldn't follow his advice or pay his legal fees. jenna: time is running out to get your ticket. the powerball lottery

holding their drawing for the record breaking $500 million jackpot. certainly for folks hit by superstorm sandy that money would go a long way towards recovery. rick leventhal is live from pop's wines and liquors in island park, new york, one of the areas affected by this storm. rick? >> reporter: this storm store was actually shut down a couple days after hurricane sandy and lost its lottery machine. didn't get a new one until last friday. we may have found one of the few stores in this region without a line. no waiting if you want to come to -- there is one gentleman buying tickets right now. sales have been pretty steady across the region. a lot of folks who were hardest hit are hoping to reverse their fortunes. the people we have spoken with, say they would share the fortunes with their neighbors. here is one woman we spoke with earlier. >> i feel like, it is meant, for someone to win here in long beach. what is going on here now, you know, and i would be

glad to give, give, mark my words because i'm going to win, and i'm going, first thing i would do to help everyone here in long beach. >> reporter: wouldn't that be great? 16 drawing without a winner. there is a 60% chance that someone will grab the top prize tonight, jenna. jenna: we'll take that percentage. we hear the jackpot is likely to go even higher than the half billion dollars it already is, rick? >> reporter: it works like a 50/50 pool. so half the money spent on tickets goes into the prize pool. the other half goes to the states that sell them. there are 42 states that sell the tickets along with the district of columbia and the virgin islands. more people that buy tickets the bigger the jackpot can grow. the bigger the jackpot is more people buy tickets. it feeds on itself. in some cases like new hampshire they're selling four times as many tickets than they normally do because the jackpot is so high despite the long odds

of 1 in 175 million. you're 50 times more likely to die in a shark attack than win. you're 100 times more likely to die from flesh-eating bacteria than win. jenna: i don't like any of those scenarios. goodness sakes. >> reporter: also more likely to be a movie star. jenna, i think that might be your prize. jenna: yeah, right, rick. smooth talker that you are. let me ask you one other final question. i saw last hour you were talking to martha. in fact you gave her the same line about the movie star thing in case our viewers don't know. no he didn't. >> reporter: that wasn't me. jenna: $2, that was it, rick? is that all you're going to put into this? >> reporter: $2 and a dream, right? no, definitely not all i'm going to put in. i don't think you really increase your odds very much by spending more money. so, you know, maybe --. jenna: maybe not. >> reporter: we can split. if you want a ticket i can invest. jenna: that's good. i will e-mail you. do it over twitter.

share with our viewers how much money we're willing to put at stake. rick, thank you very much for that. at least there are no lines. should be able to buy a ticket pretty easy. would winning tonight's powerball jackpot, you heard from rick, it will go higher than 500 million. the take home would be a little over $300 million. jon: okay. jenna: would that buy your happiness? go to foxnews.com. click on you decide poll to cast your vote. we have 80,000 votes. nearly 38% say yes, this would buy hem happiness. jon: mom always said money doesn't buy you happiness. jenna: did that person ever win the lottery? just wondering. we'll do a research. jon: it buys you a lot of collection from bill collectors. there is brutal home invasion inside a mansion. it leads police to check the area. they are scouring that million dollar home for clues. we'r you live to the breaking news desk and tell you more.

also more protests in egypt. the crowds there calling for their new president to get out of town less than two years after hosni mubarak's ouster. how events in egypt may actually mirror what happened in iran more than 30 years ago i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare,

you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now.

jon: right now in the new hampshire police are searching for clues inside a million dollar mansion after a brutal home invasion. rick is live in our newsroom with that. >> reporter: a very strange case out of new hampshire. a million dollar mansion robbed, the owners beat en. police are trying to figure out who is responsible. the couple is a doctor and his wife. they were home sunday night with the 2-year-old daughter when someone broke into the house. the couple was severely

beaten. somehow the wife was able to escape. she got out of the house. she called for help. police responded when they got there, the doctor was in such bad shape they actually thought he was dead. he was not. both were taken to the same hospital where he works as an anesthesiologist. their young daughter was not hurt at all, thank goodness. this all happened in an upscale part of town. here's the local police officer. >> we have no information that would suggest that any of our residents are less safe than today or tomorrow than they were friday or saturday. >> reporter: but still no arrests and there are reports, jon, that dr. casada was arrested at the house last year, part of a domestic dispute but the charges were later dropped. no word whether there is any connection to what happened this couple this past weekend. that back to you. jon: that is a strange one. rick, thank you. jenna: political turmoil gripping egypt is now only getting worse. with protests raging for a 6th day across the country

in response to what critics call a power grab by president morsi. this amid word today that the muslim brotherhood will hold rallies across the country in support of morsi on saturday. why did president morsi take this action? is it a power gab? can his power in office outlasts the protests we're seeing on the streets? robin wright, from wilson center and institute of peace. she spent her professional career covering the middle east as our own judith miller, who was the cairo bureau chief for "the new york times" and fox news contributor. what a pleasure to have you both with us today, two great experts on this. robin, what are we seeing play out in egypt? why did morsi's actions last week cause this type of reaction in the streets? >> well it comes in the context of the deep polarization between islamist parties and secular forces, between the forces of the past and the force who is are in power at the moment. it also comes in context

with the great struggle to define the new constitution. the judiciary is controlled to a certain degree by holdovers from the mubarak area dissolved parliament and appeared to be on verge of dissolving the constituent assembly was writing constitution and that would have meant to go to square one. jenna: if i could just stop you so we get the full understanding of this. some say the judiciary, the judges would dissolve the committee that morsi starked with other islamists and that's what they were trying to check that power, that quote, unquote power grab critics are talking about. is that what was happening? >> the constituent assembly came from the parliament that had been dissolved. it is a very complicated story but basically meant that egypt would have had to go back to square one in terms of defining a new order. this is time that egypt doesn't have. this is country that faces extraordinary unemployment problems. basic things like education and health care and even picking up garbage off the street but this was a

colossal mistake, miscalculation by president morsi. not understanding how deep suspicions run about what the muslim brotherhood would do and it comes ironically and tragically just a week after he helped mediate a cease-fire in the gaza conflict. jenna: judith are those suspicions of morsi valid? >> of course they're valid if you have to judge the man so far by what he has done. i don't think it is just a coincidence, robin, that president morsi made this power grab after hillary clinton showered him with compliments how helpful he had been and what a indispensable role he played in getting sees fire in gaza. he did this because he thought the united states had his back. because he had money he needs to run egypt for the next six months to a year lined up or at least pledged and he thought he could get away with it. and he is now seeing resistance to him and his party and his way of thinking is much deeper and

much broder than he had anticipated. jenna: so that brings us to another central question, robin. do you think the priority of morsi and who is in charge of forming this new egyptian government, the priority is a stronger, safer, more powerful egypt, or a stronger, more powerful muslim brotherhood? what, where dot priorities lie? >> oh that's the big question. we'll know more over the next week or 10 days. this is a confrontation that can't endure because it has the potential to do the same thing to the muslim brotherhood that it did to hosni mubarak. undermine his credibility and his ability to rule long term and this is crisis, egypt is the heart and soul and intellectual center of arab world really can't afford right now. this is the barometer, the test case for the wider arab world. jenna: another power vacuum could be created, judy, if that does happen. if for some reason we see more turmoil and those in power are not those who stay, who would rush into that power vacuum, if, for

example, morsi doesn't stay or there is some sort of change? >> the problem for morsi and problem for secularists, a, the secularists are divided and to the right of president morsi are the salafists who want even more islamic government and less pragmatism. the pragmatic line up to his power grab president morsi had been promoting. he is caught in the middle. he has to find a way to back down on what was clearly a miscalculation and a mistake. he doesn't want to do that. the brotherhood seems to be supporting him if we can judge by these planned demonstrations for saturday. but remember, you're still going to have the courts rule on what his, he has tried to do on sunday. at least that is what is projected. we also have a strike by judges planned. so this is going to get ugly but this is a crisis of president morsi's own making. the united states has been critical of him. i think that's a good policy

and i think we should continue to be critical. jenna: let me bring this up. we'll take this to the other side of the break but some are suggesting what we see play out in egypt is similar to have 1979 in iran. i would like both your thoughts on that after the break. we'll be back after a quick commercial.

jenna: back with us now for more conversation about egypt, robin wright and judith miller. and the conversation will end here. one of these big questions that comes up is whether or not what we're seeing in egypt is the a repeat of

what we saw in iran in 1979? a post-democratic election power grab by the person elected that led to what some call a theocracy, others call a dictatorship, understanding, robin, they're very different countries and different people what do you think about the comparisons and likelihood what we're seeing in egypt. >> there are more differences than similarities but the reality is the core problem is defining new order. how do you create a different system to replace a dictatorship or autocratic regime and what are the roles of islam in politics? what are the rights for women and minorities and what are the rules about issues like blasphemy and criticism of islam? and these are issues that still have to be dealt with by egypt and the different forces that are currently in conflict with each other. so in that sense we are seeing some similarities with the kind of democratic chaos that followed iran's revolution.

jenna: very interesting. judy, your thoughts on this? >> i think there are too many similarities for comfort. i do worry about egypt going in that direction even though, yes, there are many, many differences but the problem with a country like egypt which is used to central government is that temporary power grabs like the one that president morsi has tried to do now have a tendency to become permanent power grabs. emergency laws went into effect in egypt right after saddat was assassinated. they were in effect until the day that hosni mubarak was overthrown more than 30 years later. so that's what we want to prevent in egypt. we don't want egypt to go the way of iran. jenna: we would love to have you both back because the next question of course is, what do we do? what do we do to not repeat history and if there is rule for us there? great discussion. thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you. >> thank you. jon: any moment now president obama is set to kick off a campaign-style event at the white house, stepping up political

pressure on republicans as both sides try to negotiate some kind of teal to avert the fiscal cliff. later today the president is meeting some of the nation's business leaders as well. fox business network's peter barnes live at the white house with more on that. so, which ceo's is the president talking to today? >> well, jon, it is interesting the president putting pressure on republicans to increase taxes on the wealthy. to let the bush tax cuts for wealthier americans expire and he is going to be meeting with some of those wealthier americans later today at the white house, those ceo's you just mentioned. there will be 14 of them including the ceo of yahoo!, of merck, coca-cola, and at&t he will well as lloyd blankfein, the see i don't of goldman sachs. he already came out in favor of higher taxes. in a column he wrote this week, he", i believe tax increases especially for the wealthiest are appropriate but only if they are joined

by serious cuts in discretionary spending and entitlements. significant because blankfein and his partners make millions in salary and bonuses each year. jon: interesting. what is the status of the negotiations at this point, peter? >> reporter: not clear. the president did talk to house speaker john boehner this weekend, we know that from white house officials. if there are any significant back-door negotiations going on, no one is talking about them. we're not getting any leaks about them which one republican senator welcomed. >> well, i think the fact you're not hearing any details is good. you don't hear people trying to manipulate the negotiations that are ongoing through the press or the media. >> reporter: speaker boehner also making comments this morning. he didn't tip his hand if there are any back-door secret talk going on but he is optimistic that the

white house and congress will reach a deal to avoid a fiscal cliff. jon? jon: peter barnes outside the white house. peter has a beautiful backdrop today. it is a good thing. we don't backdrop here in the studio at the moment, peter. looking good at the white house. >> reporter: thanks. jenna: there has been a lot of talk about secretary of state hillary clinton and what she will do potentially after she leaves the state department. how well does she do her job? what's next? we'll take a closer look ahead. [ male announcer ] with 160 more miles per tank,

the distances aren't getting shorter. ♪ the trucks are going farther. the new 2013 ram 1500. ♪ with the best-in-class fuel economy. engineered to move heaven and earth. ♪ guts. glory. ram.

jon: fox news alert for you now. we are awaiting remarks from president obama. he is pushing his plan to try to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff. this speech comes ahead of a meeting between the president and business leaders later today discussing actions the white house says are aimed at growing the economy and finding a quote, balanced approach to reducing the nation's deficit. let's bring in our panel.

mary katharine ham editor-at-large of hot air.com and fox news contributor. peter mirijanian former advisor to the clinton-gore and gore-lieberman campaigns. when the president arrives at the white house to speak, he will have people behind him, ordinary americans who reached out to the white house and want their $2,000 middle class tax cut preserved. republicans are saying this is essentially a campaign stunt, a campaign appearance kind of event of the he won the election. he should get on the business of governing. what do you say? >> well, one quick observation, jon. i think what you're seeing, what i think is interesting the first social media presidency. this administration using technology and using social media to advance their agenda. but look, all presidents do this. george w. bush after his re-election famously said he has now the political capital he intend to use. so going to the public and

going sort of over the head of congress is something democratic and republican presidents always do what they want to leverage their negotiations with congress. and fairly or unfairly, if the negotiations break down, the congress tends to get the blame. and that doesn't just mean democrats or republicans. it is either party. so i think when you're in the white house you are in the catbird seat. the fact republicans are complaining he is launching this campaign tells me they are concerned it will work. jon: mary catherine, george w. bush, wanted to spend some of that political capital to reform social security. that didn't happen in the face of congressional opposition. look where we are now, possibly about to go over this fiscal cliff because of mess we're in with entitlement and other programs. >> look, i think obama is well within normal procedures to have this kind of event. frankly it is sort of his default for selling things to the american public. in the past he has not used it to great effect. it didn't work great with obamacare which still is fairly unpopular despite his

re-election but on this i think he is maybe on firmer ground. but look, republicans and he are actually on the same page on middle class tax cuts. the republicans are on the same page he was two years ago when he passed the extension but i think the bigger issue, whether democrats are willing to maybe discuss enlightment reform or broader tax reform in some way because, if you're not, then this whole raising taxes on the wealthy thing is really just a sideshow and a fig leaf because it will not fix a lot. he is, if you're claiming that it will, then you're selling folks a bill of goods because over 10 years, the cbo says it raises under a trillion. of course the yearly deficit is over a trillion. so we're not dealing with the problem if we're not dealing with the drivers of debt. think i what democrats have to bring to the table when republicans come. jon: peter, talk about the optics of this. this isn't only event the president plans to do. he is hoeding to philadelphia. he is going to a toy factory. he wants ordinary people i

guess, to be, he wants media coverage and wants ordinary people to lean on their representatives i suppose to do it his way. again, some republicans are saying look, mr. president, your time would be better spent having some closed-door meetings, knocking some heads together, and getting a deal done. >> well, i mean i think that, as the president likes to say, you can walk and chew gum at the same time. i think, one compliments the other, jon. i know his staff is working very closely with boehner's staff. the fact that you had mentioned earlier peter barnes's report that there was no leaks coming out of those negotiations. i for one am pretty optimistic something is coming together. i think that the positions of both parties have been pretty well-laid out over the last year. there are no surprises here. everybody kind of nose where they're going to be able to negotiate and what they can give back and forth. speaker boehner has to go to his caucus and gather the votes. democrats have to suck it up

in the democratic caucus and give up things they don't want to give up. that's where we are. jon: mary catherine, are you optimistic as peter seems to be that a deal is coming. >> maybe not as optimistic. but the entire left and unions and whole organized side is saying heck no, you will not touch this stuff. if he goes on the road and take the road show out it would be probably better to stick to negotiations. if he does the road show sell people on entitlement issue. he hasn't led on this "the washington post" said in editorial he said he would deal with the issue and never tackled it. he might try to lead now. jon: mary katharine ham and peter mirijanian, thank you both. jenna: fox news alert. senator susan collins of maine stepping to the podium minutes ago following her meeting on capitol hill with ambassador susan rice. a top republican on the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee. let's take a listen. >> i still have many questions that remain

unanswered. i continue to be troubled by the fact that the u.n. ambassador decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of a contentious presidential election campaign by ahe grewing to go on the sunday shows to present the administration's position. jenna: senator collins is less outspoken than others is echoing the other republican senators who said they have concerns about the possible nomination of ambassador rice for secretary of state in the wake of some of her comments about what exactly prompted the terror attack on our consulate in the benghazi that led to the murders of four americans on 9/11. collins says she needs more information as you just heard before she will decide whether to support any nomination. of course as a hypothetical nomination. we don't even know if it is coming or not. ambassador rice is also scheduled to meet with republican senator bob corker of tennessee today.

when we get his comments we'll bring those to you as well. jon: we will definitely stay on top of that story. a frightening development in the iran nuclear standoff. word that scientists in that rogue nation are working on an atomic bomb design that would be three times as powerful as the one that leveled hiroshima in world war ii. all this as iran's nuclear stockpile continues to grow. we'll go in depth on that topic there are patients who will question, why does my mouth feel dryer than i remember it to be? there are more people taking more medication, so we see people suffering from dry mouth more so. we may see more cavities, bad breath, oral irritation. a dry mouth sufferer doesn't have to suffer. i would recommend biotene. the enzymes in biotene products help supplement enzymes that are naturally in saliva. biotene helps moisten those areas that have become dry. those that are suffering can certainly benefit from biotene.

i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

jenna: "happening now", trouble overseas as hillary clinton is set to take her bow as secretary of state. looking back over her tenure, what has she accomplished and is it at risk of being undone? chief washington correspondent james rosen is live in washington with more. james? >> reporter: all secretaries of state are but temporary

stewards of the country's foreign policy and seldom the case a achievement or error by one of them endures forever. analysts say secretary clinton brought undeniable star power to her role as chief diplomat and used her unique status on the world stage and global rolodex to advance issues of concern to her. she is included gender equality, the environment, technology and social media and steering of resources to her department. yet on the great foreign policy challenge of her time clinton can point to only limited progress of kind could be expected in the post 9/11 world where tough sanctions on iran's oil and gas sector failed to check that regime's march towards nuclear weapon. where change in leadership in north korea produced know change in that rogue state's behavior and upheaval's of the arab spring hardly dampened the volatility of the middle east. one analyst who worked for six secretaries of state told fox news, hillary clinton will not enter the secretary of states hall of fame, he argues, her boss

kept mrs. clinton on a short leash. >> issues regarding peace, war, iraq being afghanistan, war against terror, arab-israeli issue, israeli-palestinian negotiations, management of u.s.-israeli relationship these were run out of the national security council and the white house. all power flowed into the white house and from the white house. so the truth is it is a thought experiment. we'll never really know what hillary clinton could have done in an actual negotiation or creating a, owning an issue. >> reporter: as for what will confront secretary clinton's successor analysts agree very likely the same sets of bad policy options that confronted the bush and obama administration on the same enduring trouble spots, iran, north korea, and the mid-east. jenna? jenna: good challenge for the right person, right, james? we can be optimistic about it. a lot of challenges. >> reporter: sure. jenna: sure. it is a long list admittedly so. james rosen with that great analysis for us today.

james, thank you. >> reporter: thank you, jenna, well this could be your lucky day. the drawing for a record-setting powerball lottery, yep, it's tonight. if you're considering joining an office pool though, there are a couple of things you should know. hmmm. we'll tell you about that. plus a new study raising fears over bacteria found in pork. the meat industry says --. jenna: not bacon? jon: we'll talk about bacon. jenna: uh-oh. jon: but pork industry, says regulators should say are pushing their own agenda. hmmm. we'll get into this argument coming up. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

now we need a little bit more... [ male announcer ] at humana, we understand the value of quality time and personal attention. which is why we are proud to partner with health care professionals who understand the difference that quality time with our members can make... that's a very nice cake! ohh! [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] humana thanks the physicians,

nurses, hospitals, pharmacists and other health professionals who helped us achieve the highest average star rating among national medicare companies... and become the first and only national medicare advantage company to achieve a 5-star rating for a medicare plan... your efforts result in the quality of care and service we're able to provide... which means better health outcomes... and more quality time to share with the ones who matter most. i love you, grandma! [ male announcer ] humana. ♪

jenna: today republicans are voicing optimism about reaching a deal with the white house to avoid that so-called fiscal cliff. but the president may have to twist a few arms before democrats are ready to come to the table. it's always a guessing game these days when it comes to the fiscal cliff. welcome to the second however

"happening now." we are glad you are with us. i'm jenna lee. jon: what a way to run a country. i'm jon scott. the white house and top congressional leaders have started negotiating but both side are far apart right now. meanwhile president obama is trying to build public support for his plan. later this week he's going on the road to sell his proposals and this afternoon he meets with business leaders. earlier today senate minority leader mitch mcconnell took aim at the president's decision to go on the road. some lawmakers are trying to solve the nation's huge financial problems during this process. >> it may come as a surprise to many to see that with just a few weeks to go before a hard deadline on solving the short-term issue, president obama has decided to hit the road, hit the road this week to drum up support for his favored approach. it's hard to believe, really. i mean every week he spends campaigning for his ideas is a

week we are not solving the problem. it's completely counter productive. the election is over, he won, congratulations, we've got a hard deadline here, however, and he's still out on the campaign trail kind of celebrating. jon: well that celebration gets underway right now at the white house in this fox news alert the president is going to deliver those remarks on his plans for middle class tax cuts, listen in. >> i want to make sure everybody understands, this debate is just not about numbers, it's a set of major decisions that are going to affect millions of families all across this country in very significant ways, and their voices, the voices of the american people have to be part of this debate, and so i asked some friends of mine here to join me, some folks from here in the area. our ultimate goal is an agreement that gets our

long-term deficit under control in a way that is fair & balanced. that kind of agreement would be good for our businesses, it would be good for our economy, it would be good for our childrens' future, and i believe that both parties can agree on a framework that does that in the coming weeks. in fact my hope is to get this done before christmas. but the place where we already have in theory at least complete agreement right now is on middle class taxes, and as i've said before we've got two choices, if congress does nothing every family in america will see their taxes automatically go up at the beginning of next year, starting january 1st every family in america will see their taxes go up. a typical middle class family of four would see its income taxes go up by $2,200.

$2,200 out of people's pockets. that means less money for buying groceries, less money for filling prescription, less money for buying diapers. [laughter] >> it means a tougher choice between paying the rent and paying tuition, and middle class families just can't afford that right now. by the way, businesses can't afford it either. yesterday i sat down with some small business owners who stressed this point. economists predict if taxes go up on the middle class next year consumers will spend nearly $200 billion lesson things like cars, clothes, and furniture and that obviously means fewer customers, that cuts into business profits, that makes businesses less likely to invest and hire, which means fewer jobs, and that can drag our entire economy down. the good news is there is a better option, right now as we

speak congress can pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody's income. everybody's. and that means that 98% of americans, and 97% of small businesses wouldn't see their income taxes go up by a single dime. 98% of americans, 97% of small businesses would not see their income taxes go up by a single dime. even the wealthist americans would still get a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income. so it's not like folks who make more than 250 aren't getting a tax break too, they are getting a tax break on the first 250 just like everybody else. families and small businesses would therefore be able to enjoy some piece of mind heading into christmas and heading into the new year. and it would give us more time than next year to work together

on a comprehensive plan to bring down our deficits, to streamline our tax system, to do it in a balanced way, including asking the wealthist americans to pay a little more so we can still invest in things like education, and training and science and research research. i know some of this may sound familiar to you because we talked a lot about this during campaign. this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. this was a major debate in the presidential campaign and in congressional campaigns all across the country, and a clear majority of americans, not just democrats, but also a lot of republicans and a lot of independents agreed we should have a balanced approach to deficit reduction that doesn't hurt the economy and doesn't hurt middle class families. and i'd glass to see if you've been reading the papers lately that more and more republicans in congress seem to be agreeing with this idea that we should have a balanced approach. so, if both parties agree we should not raise taxes on middle

class families, let's begin our work with where we agree. the senate has already passed a bill that keeps income taxes from going up on middle class families. democrats in the house are ready to vote for that same bill today. if we can get a few house republicans to agree as well i'll sign this bill as soon as congress sends it my way. i've got to repeat, i've got a pen, i'm ready to sign it. [applause] >> so my point here today is to say, let's approach this problem with the middle class in mind, the folks who are behind me, and the millions of people all across the country who they represent. the american people are watching what we do. the middle class families, folks who are working hard to get into the middle class, they are watching what we do right now, and if there is one thing that i've learned, when the american

people speak loudly enough lo and behold congress listens. some of you may remember that a year ago during our last big fight to protect middle class families tens of thousands of working americans called and tweeted and emailed their representatives asking them to do the right thing, and sure enough it worked. the same thing happened earlier this year when college students across the country stood up and demanded that congress keep rates low on their student loans. congress got the message loud and clear and they made sure that interest rates on student loans did not go up. so the lesson is that when enough people get involved we have a pretty good track record of actually making congress work. and that is important, because this is your biggest challenge yet, and it's one that we can only meet together. so, in the interests of making sure that everybody makes their voices heard, last week we asked

people to tell us, what would a $2,000 tax hike mean to them? some families told us it would make it more difficult for them to send their kids to college. others said it would make it tougher for them to cover the cost of prescription drugs. some said it would make it tough for them to make their mortgage. lynn lion who is here from newport news, there she is. she wants to see some cooperation in washington. she wrote, let's show the rest of the world that we are adults and living in a democracy we can solve our problems by working together. so that's what this debate is all about, and that's why it's so important that as many americans as possible send a message that we node to kee need to keep moving forward. today i'm asking congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve. i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. tell members of congress what a

$2,000 tax hike would mean to you. call your members of congress. write them an email. post it on their facebook walls. you can tweet it using the hashtag my 2k. not y2k, my 2k. [laughter] >> we figured that would make it a little bit easier to remember. i want to assure the american people i'm doing my part. i'm sitting down with ceo, with labor leaders, i'm talking to leaders in congress. i am ready and able and willing and excited to go ahead and get this issue resolved in a bipartisan fashion so that american families, american businesses have some certainty going into next year, and we can do it in a balanced and fair way, but our first job is to make sure the taxes on middle class families don't go up, and since we all theoretically agree on that we should go ahead and

get that done. if we get that done a lot of the other stuff will be a lot easier. [applause] >> so, in light of just sort of spreading this message i'm going to be visiting pennsylvania on friday to talk with folks at a small business there that are trying to make sure that they are filling their christmas orders, and i'll go anywhere and i'll do whatever it takes to get this done. it's too important for washington to screw this up. now is the time for us to work on what we all agreed to, which is let's keep middle class taxes low. that's what our economy needs, what's what the american people deserve and if we get this part of it right then a lot of the other issues surrounding deficit reduction in a anywhere and balanced and responsible way are going to be a whole lot easier. and if we get this wrong the economy is going to go south, it's going to be much more difficult for us to balance our budgets and deal with our

deficits, because if the economy is not strong that means more money is going out on things like unemployment insurance and less money is coming in in terms of tax receipts and it actually mix our deficit worse. we really need to get this right. i can only do it with the hef the american people. so tweet, what was that again my 2k. tweet using the hashtag my 2k, or email. post it on a member of congress' facebook wall. do what it takes to communicate a sense of urgency. we don't have a lot of tile here. time here. we have a few weeks to get this thing done. we could get it done to. optimistically i don't think we're going to get it done tomorrow. but i tell you, if everybody here goes out of their way to make their voices heard and spread the word to your friends, family, coworkers and neighbors then i am confident we will get

it done and we will put america on the right track not just for next year but for many years to come. all right? thank you very much, everybody. good job. jon: well he should have the political winds at his back after winning re-election but president obama has run into a brick wall in congress for his plans to increase taxes on the wealthy, and you heard him laying out a program there that he hopes will get the american people involved in pressuring members of congress and he quite openly asked people to pressure members of congress to maintain a tax cut or the middle class and increase taxes on the wealthy. he said, i'll go anywhere, and do whatever it takes to get this job done. many republicans have said his time would be best spent having meetings with them in places like the oval office or maybe somewhere on capitol hill, rather than grandstanding in

some fashion to make these media are appearances. at any rate we'll see what happens, we'll see whether the american people respond. jenna: steve moore is with us a senior economics writer for the "wall street journal." steve, the president made the argument if you make less than $250,000 you don't get taxed, if you make $500,000 then half your income is taxed at a lower rate. why not move ahead with that? >> i want to make one point if i could. i think the president made history today. i think it was the first time a president actually mentioned the phrase tweeting. i don't think that's ever happened before. this really is the new social media president. i thought that was very interesting. you know, i think the republicans who watch this are going to respond to this. jenna by saying, look, there is nothing new here. this sounded a lot like the campaign speeches he was making over the last three or four months. there is no disagreement, jenna, the president is right about

that that taxes should not be raised on the middle class. the problem that the president avoided talking about in his speech today is look if we allow the taxes to go up on the top two or three percent, guess what, those are small business owners, those are employers, investors, that is going to hurt the economy a lot. i think there was not a whole lot new here. this was a president not aiming this at congress but at the american people trying to bull doze the republicans in congress into doing this. jenna: if you standby for a second we have to take a quick commercial break. i want to get your thoughts on the other side of the break about what actually pwrabgs this impasse we are seeing in d.c., the million dollar question if you will, steve. quick commercial and we'll be right back. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula.

[ male announcer ] it's that time of year again.

medicare open enrollment. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. ♪ open enrollment ends dember 7th. so now's the time. visit care.gov or call 1-800-medicare. jenna: steve moore back with us with more reaction to what the president said about the fiscal cliff. i think it was albert einstein who said the expression if you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different

result, it's insanity. i know i botched it up. i think no one is 0 coming to the table with anything new. how do we break this cycle and get past this fiscal cliff and really get this change going. >> albert einstein is also famous for saying the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. that's something we have to worry about with this national debt. jenna: i'm going to need a diagram. >> the national dentist something no one is talking about. we have a $1.2 billion deficit. one of the things i'm hearing from my republican sources over the last few days is they say the president isn't talking about spending cuts. wasn't it interesting in his remarks today i don't think the president mentioned cutting spending one time. so the republicans are saying wait a minute all the president wants to do is raise these taxes on small businesses and i vesters and quote rich people. on the other hand he's not

putting on the table any reductions in spending or entitlements. and i think we all know, whether you're a democrat, republican, independent we have to start chopping these programs and reforming them or we will surrender to an ocean of debt. jenna: when does that moment of reckoning come? is it here now? that's the big question? >> i don't think it's here now. i think the window is khroeusing and i think there is a lot of frustration that we can't seem to come to an agreement. just one example, jenna, the president in the negotiations has said well social security reform is off the table. wait a minute, social skaort we have multitrillion dollar deficit tph-s that program. it's part of the problem. why won't we deal with that maybe by raising the retirement age. there are little things we can do that could solve this debt problem that have not been discussed. i'm a little frustrated the president has not made the case to the american people. in addition to not having the middle last tax increases we have to get very serious very soon about cutting government

spending. jenna: it would be a good time for the next albert einstein to enter into the spirit. >> maybe that's what we need in washington. i've been in this town 25 years, jenna and it's just so frustrating the budget just keeps growing and growing and growing, we have these discussions over and over again and it's almost impossible to get rid of programs that tonight work. that's what i'm looking for. i think the republicans are willing to negotiate on taxes if the democrats and the president will get serious about these entitlement reforms. jenna: hopefully both sides are game as you mentioned. great to have you with us from chicago today. thank you very much. >> thank you, jenna. jon: there is an alarming new report on iran and its nuclear capabilities. what it says about how close that rogue nation could be to having its own nuke. and how powerful the bomb would be. ambassador john bolton who has worked for years to make sure this doesn't happen on what it all means, next.

jon: republicans say they are willing to show some willingness to come proceed myself on taxes in a grand bargain to help the nation avoid falling off the fiscal cliff. senate democrats, though, are refusing to negotiate taking a hard line against cuts to entitlements like medicare and social security benefits. so where does this all leave us? we heard the president weighing in on it moments ago. let's talk about it with bob cusack, managing editor of the hill. is either side bulging or blinking right now, bob? >> well, if any side is drinking right now it's the republican side because they are trying to wrestle with what they should give up on on taxes, whether that is increasing tax rates or withholdings. democrats, fresh off the election, using that political capital, they are seeing more

and more is off the table. in 2011 the president said everything should be on the table, that included entitlement reform. now democrats are saying, social security we shouldn't mess with, these what senator harry reid said. the president has backed him up on that. other -ts are saying let's not cut medicare benefits. it's going to be very difficult to get a deal. the more and more members you talk to they are not talking about christmas, they are talk being about new years' eve as a deadline they could be in washington. jon: tom cole of oklahoma has more less broken with his leadership and said, yeah, let's do what the president says, let's enact or preserve the tax cuts for 98% of americans, and come back later and negotiate about the rest. that's essentially what the president just proposed in his white house appearance. any chance of that happening? >> no, no chance of that happening, because it just doesn't have the votes in the house. of course the white house would think that maybe they can get the votes eventually. there were 19 democrats who voted with the republicans to extend all the bush-era tax

rates before the election. there just aren't the votes on that. i think that could be a trial balloon that has been shot down by speaker john boehner and his lieutenants this morning. could there be a higher threshold possibly, maybe a million, maybe a little higher than that, that is quite possible. jon: the guessing game goes on, which side blinks. bob cusack in washington thank you. jenna: some sobering new evidence of iran's dangerous nuclear ambitions. the "associated press" reporting on possible proof that iran's nuclear scientists are working on several fronts to build an atomic weapon. the ap obtaining a diagram that appears to show iran has been running computer simulations of nuclear death ti detonations. he it's a massive blast, three times bigger than the world war ii bomb that destroyed hiroshima.

we have john bolton former ambassador to the u.n. and a fox news contributor. the ap gets this diagram nowment what do you make of the timing on this as well as the report stph-g. >> it was obviously leaked by some government or by the international atomic energy agency, and the timing could be explained by a number of things. i think the key is that it shows just how sophisticated iran's thinking is on the nuclear weapons front. this is a country that is making very substantial progress. this diagram is just one of a lot of pieces of evidence, many of which i saw years ago and they still haven't come out and i'm sure other pieces of evidence have accumulated since then. jenna: can you share any of that evidence with us, just you and me and the rest of america right now? >> i can share what is already leaked out. they are working on a very sophisticated approach to weapons. take the diagram you just showed, people say, oh, but that weapon is three times more powerful and the hiroshima bomb, that shows that iran is a ways away.

no not at all. that bomb was 67 years ago. jenna: one of the nuclear experts that the government relies upon, according to the "associated press" says listen this diagram is just kind of thinking about things, it's not really ao blueprint for what is to come. at least that is his take. what do you think about that. >> it's not a blueprint after nuclear weapon, but nobody should have any illusions that the blueprints aren't out there. when gaffe gave up his nuclear program we got documents with chinese markings because china gave its plans for nuclear bombs to pakistan. jenna: iran has been clear about that as well. one of their top nuclear officials if you will came out and said, yeah, we are continuing to enrich our uranium and this is what we're moving forward with. we got the reports this week as well that the iaea the scientists that participate in

that nuclear watchdog group has been hacked by what appears to be iranian sources. and you have iran out with new submarines as well. this is constantly flooded into the media. how do we combat this not only through sanctions and policy but through this propaganda war that we are seeing in front of us as well? >> i think the iranians are trying to back the europeans and the obama administration off. they don't like the sanctions, they are causing economic pain but they are not affecting the nuclear weapon program. iran is trying to show, they are moving ahead, the sanctions are not slowing them down on the nuclear front. therefore why europeans in particular should you feel pain on your side. the question of iran's nuclear program is just not going to drift into the future indefinitely. we'll come to a crisis point sooner rather than later. i think after the israeli election in january they'll have to make some hard decisions whether they use preemptive military force or not.

jenna: you think the timeline leads to us 2014, some kind of tipping point. >> iran is not racing to build its first nuclear weapon, they are building a very broad nuclear program. they could race to get that first weapon and they could do it very quickly. jenna: ambassador bolton. thank you. jon: we are talking about powerball fever today, jenna. so many folks dreaming about what they'll buy with more than, well half a billion bucks, that is before the government gets its hands-on its share. if you're trying to boost your chances by joining an office pool, some things you need to know. >> with my winnings i'm going to do some donations, first of all, and then bless family members and me and my wife and dog, and just live a peaceful life. >> i'm going to pay my house off. i'm going to give money to my kids, my stepchildren and my

husband and i are going to take a fabulous vacation. >> how are you going to spend your winnings. >> take a deal. just one deal. >> good luck. new trident layers juicy berry + tangy tangerine is a thrilling, dual-flavored ride to mouth fun-town. but it's not like everyone is going to break into a karaoke jam session. ♪ this will literally probably never happen.

jenna: someone, or maybe, a few lucky folks, could be a whole lot richer after tonight's record powerballawing. the jackpot is now up even higher. so if you're thinking of joining an office pool, there are some things you should know. rick, how high is the jackpot right now? >> reporter: $550 million.

jenna: an extra 50 million on top of it all. >> reporter: i didn't realize this. they were lotto lawyers across the country. they specialize in helping lotto winners. they may be rich but there could be some unexpected legal problems as a result of it. here is what you need to know in case you're holding tonight's winning numbers, and you know you are. if you went in on tickets with coworkers, part of an office pool, make photocopies of the group lottery tickets. give each copy to each pool member before the drawing. there is clear proof ahead of time who is in the pool and for what ticket. there are cases people bought tickets for office pool and also for themselves. so it is important to be able to distinguish between them. and that has got to be done prior to the drawing. you can't say after the fact you actually intended the winning ticket you bought to be for yourself and not for pool mates. handing out photocopies

everybody understands who is in the pool. bottom line, no offense to the next guest you want to avoid needing to hire an attorney. if you do a large chunk of your winnings will go to the lawyer and not towards that private island you were thinking about buying for yourself in the south pacific. jenna: that is good lead in. we'll ask fred teece. you're in the hot seat, fred. rick and i win 550 million. jon: wait. >> you or anybody, put my number down there so somebody can call me if you win. jenna: jon says wait a minute i was part of the office pool. jon: i was. jenna: you represent him. how much of the winnings do you get, fred, as the lawyer? >> i got to tell you for $550 million i will get most of it. jenna: what? >> you know. jon: you're hired!. >> exactly. exactly. you get what you pay for. look, i mean, rick, rick hit the nail on the head. what you have to do before

the lottery starts, make sure who is in and what tickets were bought and whether or not tickets part of the pool were actually ones that lost. jon and sharp lawyer like me. i never knew there was such a thing as lotto lawyer. i've been telling people i'm a lotto lawyer. if i won 350 or 550 million bucks i get liposuction and get my eyes done. jenna: we would like to see that we like you the way you are, fred. >> 550 million bucks i would look a lot better. jenna: be honest, fred. a lot of people, sound great to make photocopies and write a contract out in the office but most of us do not do that. so before the drawing tonight is there anything we can do in the short term? is it as easy as making photocopies now? >> really is, jenna. you know what? at the end of the day it is a contract case and issue what was the intent parties. if you're in a pool, as silly as it sounds, you need to have a picture because what happens is someone will come back and say, wait a

minute, i gave money to get into the pool. i should be part of it. you should have a list written down of people in the pool. agreement what you do if you win. talk about that for a second. a list of tickets that win, that you have purchases as part of the pool. so someone can't say they should have been in it. quite frankly you ought to go a little beyond that. you have a plan where you meet, what you will do. although you don't want to hear this, when you do win, call a lawyer, call a good investment person. have plans how you keep the tickets safe and secure. i have to tell you something. forget all the lawyers come running at you like sharks you will have cousins you never heard of showing up when they find out you have $550 million bucks. jenna: this winning lotto is a lot of work. i didn't realize that. forget the office pool. it is too much. >> would take me a week to spend $550 million. i take care of a couple airplanes. big island in the bahamas. jenna: the four good-looking sons. >> you know what. someone once said i spend

the wine, women and song and the rest i would waste on education. jenna: we'll leave it there. something our audience can ponder. fred, great to see you. good advice. >> thanks for having me. jon: right now a judge in louisiana is hearing arguments over the state's controversial school voucher program. it is meant to help kids in failing schools afford a better education but teachers unions and some school districts are suing claiming it is unconstitutional. casey stiegel, is live in baton rouges louisiana. casey. >> reporter: hey john, louisiana by the way became the ninth state in the country to offer some sort of voucher program. here is how it works. if a student in louisiana is enrolled in an underperforming public school or come from a household that has a low income, then they are eligible for this voucher. the voucher then can then be used to pay for tuition at a private school. now governor bobby jindal sat down with us yesterday. he is a major proponent of

this program. he tells me it is all about giving families options, to provide kids with the best education possible. >> choice works. accountability works. competition works. there is no reason we can't do this not only across our entire state but across the entire country. >> reporter: this is the first year this program was rolled out statewide. nearly 5,000 students are enrolled with a total price tag of about $25 million but several school districts and teachers unions are in court today fighting the issue. groups like the louisiana federation of teachers say that it is illegal to use taxpayer dollars to fund private schools, and argue it is robbing an already struggling public school system of cash. critics also believe state lawmakers did not follow the rules when passing legislation to fund this program saying it is not all inclusive. >> so it's not the question of the 5,000 or 6,000

students that have chosen to use vouchers. what happens as a result of this to the students that are still in the schools, be they, a, b, c, d, or "f" schools? >> reporter: both the governor and state board of education believe it is constitutional. that is exactly what this district court judge here in baton rouge will be deciding this week, jon. jon: it will be interesting to watch the results. casey stiegel report indeed. jon: thanks, casey. jenna: once again it appears a meeting did not go well today. why senator susan collins says she could not support rice for secretary of state if that eventually happens, that nomination, without more information. we're going to tell you more about that. plus what do you really need to know if you love your blts like i do? jon will take a closer look at the pork industry next. hey, look! a shooting star!

make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. test drive! but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today. then you may be looking for help

in choosing the right plan for your needs. so don't wait. call now. whatever your health coverage needs, unitedhealthcare can help you find the right plan. open enrollment to choose your medicare coverage begins october 15th and ends december 7th. so now is the best time to review your options and enroll in a plan. medicare has two main parts, parts a and b, to help cover a lot of your expenses, like hospital care... and doctor visits. but they still won't cover all of your costs. now's the time to learn about unitedhealthcare plans that may be right for you. are you looking for something nice and easy? like a single plan that combines medicare parts a & b with prescription drug coverage? a medicare advantage plan can give you doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage all in one plan... for nothing more than what you already pay for part b. you'll also have the flexibility to change doctors from a network of providers

dedicated to helping you stay healthy. plus with the pharmacy saver program, you can get prescriptions for as low as $2 at thousands of pharmacies in retail locations like these, all across the country. call now to learn more. unitedhealthcare has the information you need so you'll be better prepared when making medicare decisions. maybe you'd just like help paying for your prescriptions. consider a part d prescription drug plan. it may help reduce the cost of your prescription drugs. with over 30 years of medicare experience, unitedhealthcare has been helping people live healthier lives. remember, open enrollment ends friday, december 7th. we can help. call unitedhealthcare to learn about medicare plans that may be right for you. call now. ♪

jon: the people behind "consumer reports" magazine raising new concerns about the nation's pork supply. they say they examined nearly 200 samples of pork with many of those samples testing positive for salmonella, lysteria and staph. to make matters worse the consumers union says 90 percent of the bacteria are actually immune to antibiotics. in other words, super bugs. but the national pork producers council president is responding saying consumers union, which runs "consumer reports", resorted to sensationalism because the science it used wouldn't stand up to even elementary scrutiny. it is another attempt by that advocacy group to push a social agenda not based on science, one if successful would take choice away from consumers. let's bring in dr. lee van nokia cure, adjunct assistant professor at lsu health science center in shreveport. they said the sample size, 200 sample, 198 samples, not

very big for a scientific study. >> well, it is a relatively small study, that's for sure. you know, once again it is hard to detract for the consumer. i feel sorry for the consumer like he said/she said. they talked about this bacteria which has food poisoning, mimics appendicitis. the then the council said, well there are some nonpathogen nick forms to it, which is true. so it really comes down to what you can do for the consumer. it isn't just pork. we hear about stuff with ground beef, beef, any meat, has the potential to cause food poisoning and has bacteria that can be transferred to humans so. jon: isn't the answer here just to make sure that everything is well-cooked? >> exactly, jon. so that's the key. proper food handling. don't cross-contaminate. if you have a plate of, you

know, ground pork and then you cook it, don't put it back on the plate. don't cut up your vegetables where there will be juice from the pork. and make sure that the pork chops are cooked to like 145 degrees. ground pork and sausages should be cooked to about 160 degrees. be smart about it. the other thing, if you really want meat that doesn't have antibiotic use in it, then you need certified organic. that is the one thing, if it says certified organic you know it is a farm using no ant bottomics, no hormones. general. jon: jenna, will not let me get away without answering her question, can she have bacon? >> blts i'm with that one of the first, i like my blts kind of crispy, you really should, you really should have it cooked well enough too but also bacon often has

nitrites in it a preservative, that helps protect you too. i think you're okay with that, jenna. jenna: i always like dr. vinocur just for the record. i always knew it. jon: gives us an opportunity to rerun favorite video of recent days. this is how you keep your pork clean, if you want to absolutely make sure. this is that guy in china, who says, teaching his pigs to swim is providing, well, better muscle, healthier meat. he is, he has got a little tourist attraction as well with the diving pigs. >> that is the good one. jenna: i imagine you need something a little more than this the. jon: that is how you keep the pork clean. doctor, serious topic and make sure everything is well. jenna: blts were cleared. jon: you're good. jenna: around the clock demonstrations in cairo, all of this coming as one of egypt's highest courts goes on strike in protest. we'll have a live report out of cairo coming up. also you certainly know the sound.

'tis the season for this. the salvation ringing bells and asking donations on the street. that is new york city what you're seeing on the screen. we'll tell you what city is using panhandling laws to give them the boot this christmas. that's next. jon: ah. and we can save you 10% on ground shipping over the ups store. look this isn't my first christmas. these deals all seem great at the time... but later, not so much. this isn't that kind of deal. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office.

has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy.

jenna: one of the most familiar sounds of the christmas season. silence now in colorado springs. the city banning the salvation army bell ringers for violating its panhandling laws. alicia acuna is live in colorado springs with more on this. >> reporter: hi, jenna. this is one location. the salvation army says it is disappointed losing this location because it has been a tradition for the city's

utility workers to volunteer as bell the city council voted last night, no more. corner of this street in downtown colorado springss a little quieter this holiday season without the salvation army bell ringers. they too fall under the newly-passed ordinance banning panhandlers and solicitors in a 12 square block area. >> we approached the city if there was a way we could bypass this, if we could be granted an exemption and that was seen as not to be possible. >> no, colorado springs is not a grinch. we're doing best we can to find a tool that works for community and respects everyone's rights. >> reporter: the new law is to protect businesses and customers. the city attorney says if they ban one form of solicitation they have to ban them all. >> whether it is the salvation army or an individual asking for money for anything, alcohol, drugs or whatever it might be, all solicitation has to be treated equally. >> reporter: around the country some department

stores and malls banned bell ringers as well. the salvation army says they don't want to pressure anyone. >> we're only here to receive money people want to give. we're not here to make anybody feel guilty. we're here to raise awareness for the salvation army's work. >> reporter: a city spokesperson has pointed out to us some private businesses here now come forward to volunteer to host the bell ringers, jenna. so we may hear them yet. back to you. jenna: we'll wait for that development. alicia, thank you. jon: so with the holidays almost here we have the perfect gift for that hard to buy for loved one. take a look at this stocking-stuffer. that is a robot, yes. and he can be yours, but wait until you hear the price tag. >> the twin gatling gun is able to unleash 6,000 bullets a minute. automatic alignment allows you to lock onto the enemy

target. will not allow any targets to escape.

jon: i know your husband got to play with lots of cool toys when he was a navy seal. jenna: that is true. jon: nothing like this. this is the gift for the person who has everything. a japanese artist bringing this giant robot to life. it weighs in at 4-tons, 13 feet tall. it's a must-have gift this season. the driver sits inside using a hand-held controller to move the arms up and down. it can even zoom along at six miles an hour. some of the cool features are twin gatling bee bee guns. the base price just over a million bucks. jenna: where do you keep that thing? in the garage? does it sit in the garage. jon: if you win the loath tow,

powerball. jenna: i'm buying one for you and rick folbaum. you'll have to figure out how to keep that thing. legoland is kicking off its holiday celebration. it's right here san diego. it's lighting of the world's tallest lego christmas tree. it's about 30 feet tall. nearly 250,000 green lego bricks. the event included fireworks and a visit from santa. they are counting down, maybe we'll see the light, no we don't. it was great, though, right? jon: i like the tree. jenna: you can't replace the real tree scent, that's where the money is. jon: thank you for joining us today. jenna: "america live" starts right now. megyn: that was a new alert. it scared me a little bit. maybe we should be scared because the clock is ticking down right now to the